Passengers idly glancing from their train window as they pass Lazonby may wonder what goes on in the warehouses that run parallel to the Settle Carlisle line.
Maybe the occasional whiff of fresh baking may offer some clue.
The products emerging from the family-owned Bells bakery has led to the village becoming synonymous with tasty treats all over the UK and beyond.
Next year the firm will mark the 80th birthday of a business established by John Bell in 1946.
At the helm today is new managing director Rob Keeping who’s been sharing details about his background and his plans for the coming years with Business Crack’s Nigel Thompson.
If Lazonby railway station still had a buffet it would surely be the best stocked in the UK.
A stone’s throw away is the factory that, when I meet Rob Keeping, is producing some of the 28 million mince pies it will make for Christmas – around of fifth of the total consumed in the UK.
New products aimed at satisfying an increasingly demanding consumer are constantly under development while the job of juggling costs with what customers will pay is never ending.
And as a family firm, there’s another dynamic to Rob’s role too; keeping an eye on the aims and ambition that John Bell set in train in 1946 yet looking out for the opportunities and challenges of the present day.
So what is it like coming in as a new MD for a family firm?
“It’s one of the things that actually attracted me to the role,” Rob told me. “The family are very welcoming and extremely passionate about the business they’ve grown. It was a natural for me to want to come in and join that team.”
He added: “We have to build on the legacy and the history that the business has been built on.
“We turn 80 next year which will be a great celebration for everybody. Some staff that have been here for 50 years so there are some incredible journeys and stories that relate to the business.”
The Bells story is fascinating. The small bakery expanded and began working with Lancashire-based Booths grocers in the 1970s.
In the 1990s they developed an organic range of goods as the move towards natural products gathered pace and a decade later developed a specialist factory to produce gluten, wheat and dairy free goods.
A Queen’s Award for Enterprise followed in 2006.
“My job is to obviously come in and continue to lead the team, but also bring some ideas to the table naturally,” Rob said.
“We’re talking as a team now around our vision for the future and what the next chapter is going to be and what we need to do to achieve that. There’s some really exciting times ahead and I think that’s the balance of any good business; it’s balancing and managing the past and the legacy that you’re taking on but also innovating and continuing to build on the future.”
Pick up any product from Bells and the connection with Lazonby in the branding and logo shows its Cumbrian roots.
But with pressure to manage costs and make production as efficient – and economic – as possible I asked if he thought it was valuable, as a national brand, to highlight a Cumbrian village that customers in Lewisham or Littlehampton may never have heard of.
“I think it’s extremely important as it starts with the product quality, which we do extremely well,” Rob said.
“It is also about what we bring to the table as a team. One of the things that I loved when I came to see the business before starting is just how welcoming everybody is but also how passionate they are to tell you the stories of the pasts because they’ve been here 15, 20 years themselves.
“You feel you’re part of something that has been here a long time, that’s part of the fabric of the community and the landscape around you.
“We work with all of the main large retailers in the country and also coffee shops across the country – the product goes far and wide.
“And to know that it comes from Lazonby in Cumbria is something we’re extremely proud of. For example, this Christmas, I think we’re around about 28 million mince pies being created from this very site.
“And to know that I think the country roughly consumes around 100 to 120 million mince pies across Christmas so that’s a big number that we’re producing.
“So it just shows that, yes, we’re a family run business in the heart of Cumbria in a small village but we also produce at scale and with quality.”
As well as traditional favourites the company are constantly looking to innovate.
As tastes and demand changes Bells have developed new product ranges. The acclaimed We Love Cake range resulted from a decision to develop the first dedicated gluten, wheat and milk free bakery and was the fastest growing brand for three years.
“We’re constantly working with our clients on innovation and our new product development team are always bringing briefs to the table and exciting options,” Rob revealed.
“In market share a few years back We Love Cake was only 1 million, now it’s 10 million and it’s continuing to grow in its reputation with the big retailers. We’ve just launched the cinnamon slice into Tesco and it’s doing extremely well.”
With many eyes watching the pennies and pounds, especially at this time of year, is the cost of production and the price we consumers will end up paying something that a company like Bells all too aware of?
“Inflation in general is always something that bakeries have to as we have a lot of raw materials that come into the business – all you can do is adapt and you can manage it the best you can,” Rob said.
“I think having those honest and strong relationships with your customers helps because you can have those honest conversations.
“That means then you don’t have to compromise on the product, which is the most important part. We will never compromise on our quality or how we produce our products. It’s what the business is built on and it’s what it will continue to be built on.”
With power and energy forming a big part of production costs, Bells’ Free From range bakery is powered by solar panels with more sustainable power generation planned.
“It may need us even carrying some of that cost further ourselves for a short period of time but we’re willing to do that over compromising on the quality and our service as a business,” Rob said.
Just months into his role and settled with a young family in the Eden Valley, Rob says demand for products, from both conventional and free-from bakeries, is growing.
Innovation and the exploration of new markets will be keeping him busy in 2026. Increasing sales in both value and finest markets will be an aim while building on exports to Australia, where in 2020 We Love Cake became the largest free from brand in the country.
“Currently we have some great, exciting conversations with our current customers,” Rob said. “We work with all the major retailers and coffee shops around the country who are naturally constantly innovating themselves so the need to work with them on those journeys is really exciting.”
With an eye on the future, does he have any predictions about how tastes may be changing and how Bells will be catering for them?
“I imagine it will continue to be strong flavours around spice and around kind of exotic flavours like we’ve seen this year and I believe that also the need for core product will still be there,” he said.
After an hour in the company of someone who runs one of the UK’s best known and most successful bakeries I had one last question to ask.
Does the man who oversees the production of bread and cake in quantities that are hard to imagine enjoy baking himself?
“I’m going to be absolutely honest and say I am not a baker! I leave that at home to my wife who bakes some incredible cakes and there are much, much more talented people than I am in this business so it’s in safe hands,” Rob said.
“I’ve been in the bakery industry nearly 15 years now after leaving the military. It’s not one that I had planned to move into. It was one that I kind of got into through chance but it’s been extremely enjoyable, and I can’t wait to continue to grow myself but also lead this business into its next chapter.”
